If you’re indoors: Dunk the beers in a bucket of ice water, or run them under a cold tap for a few minutes. If you’re outdoors: Submerge the beers in a natural water source – a river, a spring, a lake, or an ocean. Make sure to secure the beers so that they don’t sink or drift away.
Add as much ice to the water as you can, but not so much that it prevents the entire beverage container from being submerged into the water. A 50/50 mix of ice and water is a good rule of thumb. The thicker and better-insulated the container, the better. Seal the container off from the air to retain even more of the chill. This way, the ice will melt more slowly.
If you don’t have a sink, you can use a shower, a bath spigot, or any other water source. Don’t waste water. Save the runoff water in a bucket, then using it to wash dishes or water plants. Running the tap for five minutes just to cool beer is incredibly wasteful.
Don’t use hot water sources, such as hot springs or geysers. This is intuitive, but perhaps bears mention. If there’s a cold rain outside, try leaving the beers out where they’ll catch the brunt of the elements. This may not cool them as effectively as a full submersion, but it should do the trick in time.
If you leave beers beneath the surface of the snow, make sure that you mark the spot so that you don’t forget where you’ve left them. Otherwise, you may be doomed to drink warm beers in the springtime.
In a pinch, you can use smaller-scale evaporative cooling. Soak a towel, newspaper, or toilet paper with cold water, then wrap the beer inside. As the water evaporates, the beer should slowly cool. [2] X Research source
If you must use plastic pots (or another material), then you may. Bear in mind that clay is a better insulator, so a “clay pot fridge” will be more effective. [3] X Research source
If you need to cool your beers quickly, then it’s okay to put the beverages inside immediately. Bear in mind, however, that the interior may cool more quickly without the beverages taking up space – and that the process will still not be immediate. Re-soak the towel with icy water as needed. As long as it’s damp, you should be okay. If you move the towel, don’t leave the “fridge” open for long, or else you’ll lose all of the cool air. Consider leaving a thermostat inside the pot. This will help you gauge how well your “fridge” is working, and it will give you a clue about when to insert the beers.
You can also pour water onto the ground to keep it moist. This may be the best choice if there is no body of water around, and you have water to spare,
